CBD For Sleep Apnea

March 7, 2018

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If you have sleep apnea, it means you’re not getting enough sleep as this disorder continues to disturb you throughout the night. According to the National Sleep Foundation, at least 18 million Americans have sleep apnea. Disturbingly, up to 80% of moderate to severe cases remain undiagnosed. It can potentially lead to all manner of health problems but instead of reaching for prescription medication, perhaps you can choose CBD instead. Keep reading to learn more about sleep apnea, its side effects, the problems with traditional medication, and the CBD solution.

What is Sleep Apnea & How Does It Affect Me?

Sleep apnea is classified as a sleep disorder and it happens when your breathing gets interrupted when you sleep. You could have the condition and not even realize that you stop breathing hundreds of times during the night. It is a scary thought! Even more frightening is the fact that sleep apnea deprives your body and brain of oxygen. The condition falls into two categories:

Obstructive Sleep Apnea: OSA is the most common form of sleep apnea and is caused by the blockage of your airway. It typically happens when the soft tissue at the back of your throat collapses when you sleep.

As it happens while you’re asleep, it is entirely possible that you won’t know it is happening and you will be unable to understand why you feel so fatigued all the time. The lack of sleep is only one problem that surrounds the condition. Failure to treat sleep apnea could cause serious health issues such as diabetes, depression, headaches, heart failure, heart attacks, and stroke. Sleep apnea also has a deleterious effect on physical and mental performance.

Symptoms of this condition include:

Sleepiness when driving.

Lack of energy throughout the day.

Loud snoring.

Waking up with a dry or sore throat almost every morning.

Mood changes and a decreased libido.

Headaches in the morning.

The following is a list of risk factors:

Being an overweight male aged 40+.

Having a large neck (over 16 inches in women and over 17 inches in men).

Having a small jaw bone, or large tonsils or tongue.

Nasal obstruction because of sinus issues, allergies, or a deviated septum.

Gastroesophageal reflux (GERD)

A family history of sleep apnea.

How is Sleep Apnea Usually Treated?

There are a few lifestyle changes you can make to reduce instances of sleep apnea. You can lose weight if necessary, quit smoking (if applicable), stay away from caffeine and heavy meals a few hours before bed, steer clear of alcohol or sedatives near bedtime, and try to stick to a regular sleep routine.

If you show sleep apnea symptoms, your physician may perform a Sleep Study. Otherwise, patients might have to wear a mask as part of their Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) treatment. The mask is connected to a machine which delivers air continuously into your nose. There are also special dental devices designed to keep the airway open while you sleep.

In rare cases, surgery may be necessary to correct sleep apnea. Although drugs are not the primary treatment for this condition, medications such as Provigil and Nuvigil are prescribed to help patients overcome daytime sleepiness. There is a big price to pay for these drugs with side effects such as anxiety, nausea, insomnia, and upper respiratory tract infection relatively common with prescription medication.

Rather than succumbing to surgery or relying on harmful drugs, you can treat sleep apnea with CBD, an all-natural, non-intoxicating cannabinoid found in the marijuana plant.

How Does CBD Help Sleep Apnea?

Research is ongoing but scientists continue to find evidence that CBD is capable of reducing pain and inflammation in the body. We also know it interacts with a variety of receptors, proteins and other chemicals in the brain. As a result of these interactions, our body and mind experience changes in hormonal and neurotransmitter activity. CBD affects a significant number of the body’s functions which include sleep-wake cycles among other things.

The human body produces cannabinoids naturally as part of the endocannabinoid system (ECS). The ECS is involved in the regulation of physiological processes such as pain perception, cognitive functions, mood, appetite, and much more. CBD interacts with the ECS and its receptors.

What Does the Science Say About CBD?

Most of the research to date involves the effects of the psychoactive compound in cannabis, THC, on sleep apnea. A large clinical trial used a drug called dronabinol, a synthetic version of THC, on 73 adults with moderate or severe sleep apnea. The patients were divided into three groups; one group received a low dose of the drug, a second group took a high dose, and the third group had a placebo. The study found that the patients who took the highest dosage had decreased signs of subjective sleepiness and a reduced level of sleep apnea.

Final Thoughts on CBD and Sleep Apnea

We were unable to uncover any human studies that analyzed the effect of CBD only on sleep apnea. The most important studies related to the effect of cannabis, primarily THC, on patients that suffer from this sleep disorder. The results to date are very positive, and it seems that the impact is dose-dependent. This means the more cannabis you consume, the better the effect when tackling sleep apnea.

It is a terrible shame that a synthetic version of THC, which is nowhere near as effective as the real thing, is allowed to be released while marijuana languishes as a Schedule I drug. As CBD is legal in the majority of states, we expect scientists to eventually reveal data from research on how CBD alone helps sleep apnea.

Until then, we have to rely on anecdotal evidence to show that cannabidiol is an excellent option if you’re suffering from sleep apnea. It won’t cause you to get high, but it will help reduce the effects of your sleep apnea, ensure you get enough sleep, and avoid the long-term health complications associated with the condition.

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About the Author

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Jonathan Miller
Jonathan Miller, age 53 is an Ex Railyard Engineer who suffers from chronic back pain and anxiety. Jonathan's goal was to create an unbiased site that would provide anyone who seeks help in CBD oil as a treatment, with accurate and helpful information.

Getting Started with CBD Oil

If you suffer from anxiety (like me), depression or pain and are looking to get started with CBD oil, you need information on how to buy CBD oil, or you’re simply looking to learn more about CBD products, you’ve arrived at the right place.

What is CBD?

Cannabidiol, aka CBD, is a compound found in the cannabis plant that has significant medical benefits. CBD can be extracted from two different species of the Cannabis Sativa L plant, which include Cannabis and Hemp. Unlike its rival THC, CBD does not make people feel “stoned” and can actually counteract the psychoactivity of THC.

One of the main advantages of CBD is its non-psychoactive affect making it a great option for people looking for relief from inflammation, anxiety, insomnia, seizures, spasms, and other conditions.

As I mentioned above the primary distinction between Hemp and CBD oil is the part of the plant they are derived from and what parts of the plant are used to create the oil. Hemp oil is typically made from pressing cannabis seeds to extract the fatty oil from within, while some that have mastered the CBD extraction process also use the flowers as they contain high percentages of CBD. CBD oil, on the other hand, is usually made from the flowers of cannabis plant through various extraction methods.

How Does CBD Affect Your Body?

The way marijuana affects your body varies from person to person as it will often depend on genetics, tolerance to the cannabinoids, medical health, DNA, and more. It also depends on the way you consume the CBD, for example, the effects of vaping CBD are far different to smoking it in the form of high-CBD cannabis strains.

CBD and the way it affects us is still of somewhat a mystery to researchers they still try to figure out how it effects the EndoCannabinoid system. During the previous century, it was discovered that our bodies have receptors within the brain and central nervous system. Specific cannabinoids such as CBD bind to those receptors and activate the EndoCannabinoid System (ECS). This then provides a wide range of psychological and physical benefits helping the body.

Without going into specifics, cannabinoids signal to the body to create endocannabinoids and build more receptors. This helps the body to limit things associated with pain and inflammation, repairs cells and provides a wide range of other health benefits. Unlike other cannabinoids, CBD is thought to be the ultimate anti-inflammatory cannabinoid.

Medical Benefits of CBD

There is a misconception as to whether CBD can help treat patients, similar to pharmaceutical medicine, but thanks to the internet and a few different medical studies patients and researchers have been exposing their findings on how CBD oil is helping to cure a wide range of medical conditions.

The most popular story was the one of Charlotte Figi. At the time Charlotte was only 6 years old. As a little girl, she was experiencing over 300 epileptic seizures per week until she was successfully treated by a CBD-rich strain oil, later named Charlotte’s Web.

The high-quality CBD oil, changed her life, helping her to overcome a 6-year battle. Since her story hit the news, CBD and other cannabinoids of the cannabis plant are constantly being researched to understand how they can help to treat different medical conditions. As a matter of fact, CBD has been thought to help treat over 170 medical conditions, among them severe conditions such as Anorexia, Cancer, Arthritis, Depression, Anxiety, Chronic Pain, Insomnia, Glaucoma, multiple sclerosis and PTSD.

Recent studies have even shown that CBD, may cure life-threatening diseases by altering genes. Other studies have proven that it might even be an effective treatment for osteoarthritis and chronic pain.

The way that CBD works is that it interacts with receptors located in different parts of the central nervous system. These receptors are called CB1 and CB2. Both reflect the areas of the brain they interact with such as the limbic system. When taking CBD, this cannabinoid locks in on these receptors and affects the body in different ways. For example, it can help to block the pain caused by specific medical conditions.

While numerous studies have shown promising results, it is important to understand that CBD research is still at premature stages. A 2011 study that researched CBD for fibromyalgia showed extremely promising results. 56 of 112 participants who took CBD in the form of oil saw a great reduction in their symptoms and pain, while those using traditional methods didn’t see hardly any improvement.

Can you Buy CBD if you live in an illegal state?

The process is not cut-&-dry, and but thanks to the Farm Bill of 2014, forms of CBD can now be delivered to your doorstep. Those that live in recreational states can purchase CBD cannabis oil which is high in potency and extremely effective for helping to treat severe medical conditions, while those that live in other states that are not medical or recreational can benefit from CBD hemp oil. CBD Hemp oil is perfect for helping to treat a wide range of conditions including anxiety, depression and acute pain.

Who is NaturalWellNessCBDOil?

My name is Jonathan, and I’ve created this loving resource that is packed with information about CBD oil. I am growing a community on Facebook and are constantly engaging with different people to help them make more informed decisions. I review products on a daily basis and provide unbiased reviews about some of the top CBD oil manufacturers. All the information on the site is FREE; I only ask that you help to share the information you find on the site with other people that are suffering.

To your health and happiness.

About Us

NaturalWellNessCBDOil provides you with recommendations of CBD Oil Producers that we’ve thoroughly tested and would recommend you to use. Our recommendations are based on real life experiences. Our goal is to provide you with unbiased information. Please read through all the reviews before you make any decisions.